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Conflicting Acts

  • 14/06/2001

Conflicting Acts  State, communal and individual rights for the same resources overlap. The KCAP hopes to strengthen and extend these local institutions in order to effectively decentralise conservation.

Kipat is an early form of communal land tenure with legal standing which was very common in the middle hill areas. The monarch ranted land to communities or individuals under this system and the community or landlord taxed users. During the Rana period (1846-1951) kipat was recognised in the Kanchenjunga region by allowing these lands to be registered in the name of influential men in the community. Although this has not had legal standing for more than a century now, some local communities still consider those lands to be kipat. Pastoral communities livinng in the higher reaches practice kharka a complex communal management system of grazing rights in the large alpine pastures. Local residents are allowed free access on a rotational basis, while outsiders are charged a grazing fee. Kiduk is another important institution amongst the Bhote and Tibetan communities. Kiduk literally translated means

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